Santorum says Obama health law encourages abortions
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum pulled into debates over prenatal testing, contraception, abortion and other social issues as the leader in GOP polls.
Santorum says Obama health law encourages abortions
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
While he seeks to emphasize his coal miner grandpa and industrial tax policy in the fight for Michigan and the Midwest, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum is finding it hard to avoid the social issues that have defined his career as one of the nation’s most prominent conservative cultural warriors.
On CBS’ Face the Nation Sunday, Santorum criticized President Obama’s health-care law for requiring health insurance plans to cover prenatal tests that are used to detect fetal abnormalities and thus “encourage abortion.” He has expressed the same idea in recent campaign appearances.
“The bottom line is that a lot of prenatal tests are done to identify deformities in utero and the customary procedure is to encourage abortions,” Santorum told host Bob Schieffer. He said he was referring specifically to amniocentesis, in which fluid from the amniotic sac is drawn to test chromosomes for birth defects.
“Amniocentesis does, in fact, result more often than not in this country in abortions,” Santorum said. “That is a fact.”
Americans should have the right to have the the prenatal testing done, he said. “but to have the government force people to provide it free, to me, is a bit loaded.” The former Pennsylvania, author of a federal ban on late term abortions, told Schieffer that he believes some forms of prenatal testing should be provided free, including sonograms, as well as general prenatal care.
Santorum and his wife, Karen, have a 3-year-old daughter Bella, with the genetic disorder Trisomy 18.
In response to a question about whether Obama “looks down” on the disabled, Santorum cited the president’s support for access to legal late-term abortions.
“Well, the president supported partial-birth abortion, and partial-birth abortion is a procedure used almost exclusively to kill children late in pregnancy when they’ve been found out to be disabled,” Santorum said.
He added: “The president has a very bad record on the issue of abortion and children who are disabled who are in the womb. I think this simply is a continuation of that idea.”
On the show, Santorum also clarified remarks he had made Saturday during a Christian conservative conference in Ohio, where he said that Obama’s policies were based on a “phony theology, a theology not found in the Bible.”
Obama adviser Robert Gibbs said that Santorum had “stepped over the line” in criticizing the president’s religious faith.
On Sunday, Santorum said he accepts that Obama is a Christian, and his remarks were meant to refer to what he said was the president’s secularized policies and support for “extreme environmentalism,” in which the earth is “elevated” over mankind.
Sanitorium, he is. Vomitorium could be another suggested replacement name. He'd fit right in with the mullahs in Iran.— PHJR2010- Sanitorium? Vomitorium?
A replacement name for you would be HURT PUPPY JR 1999. hahahahahahahahahahahahah— sevillano - Sanitarium is nuttier than squirrel poop...— ClarkU
- with all the money he has made, he should pay for all the children that are parentless.— ald
- So free contraceptives, which prevent unwanted pregnancies, many of which would be aborted, cause more abortions? If the anti-abortion crowd were actually serious about reducing the number of abortions they would be handing out free birth control to every high school girl on the planet.
I'm really trying to understand the mindset here, and maybe someone here can help me figure this out. What is the actual goal here? Are you trying to legislate an end to premarital sex by making birth control more difficult to access? I really want to know what the goal is with this rallying against contraceptives. Would someone mind explaining?— jerkoftheworld - The goal is to flood the planet with people, because the laws of supply and demand will make it easier for corporations to hire people for dirt poor wages, or even created popular support for removing minimum wage laws because I need work so badly that I'm willing to take less then what you're taking. This is the same reason GWB didn't secure the borders and prosecuted almost no one for hiring illegals (the reason the democrats dont secure the border is supposedly to increase their voting base, mentioned in the interest of fairness to the face that NO ONE has secured our borders despite the "huge terrorist threat since 9/11".)
- The key concept is "free". Normal medical insurance has deductibles and co-pays as well as exclusions. Without those, the insurance would have to cost more. But Obama wants medical insurance to be mandatory for every breathing American and wants contraception covered with no deductibles or co-pays. He calls this "free", but nothing is free. The increased cost is simply spread to everyone. The basic purpose of medical insurance is to cover large, unusual costs; not routine expenses. — Falls Ed
- This comment has been deleted. — the lopez!
- But one can avoid car insurance by choosing to not own a car. There's no such choice with Obamacare and to top it off you are forced to pay for others insurance.
Comment removed.- I'm not so much talking about the no co-pay aspect so much as this opposition to even providing contraception. If these people hate abortion so much and want people to stop having them, then shouldn't they see contraception as a positive thing?
Oh, and why the hell would anyone take advice on contraception from someone who took a vow of celibacy? - JOTW, do not even try to understand this mindset — prenestino
- Santorum like every Republican has to lie to themselves every day.
What a pitiful existence.
They wrecked the country and can't come to the fact that their policies, lies and myths darn near brought the entire global economy down with it.
While at the same time doing everything they could to stop us from recovering.
In a sane world they would be called traitors.
In a sane country they wouldn't even exist.
— Bush Destroyed America - Comment removed.
You can reach Tom Fitzgerald at 215-854-2718 or tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
Reach Thomas at tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
